Jets Seeking Direction After Changes

By GERALD ESKENAZI

Published: March 3, 1988

Twenty years after their Super Bowl season, the Jets appear to be light years from winning another title.

Their uncertain status is symbolized by Joe Klecko, the first of the over-30 veterans they let go this winter. His cross-country odyssey for a job continues today in New England, where he will take a physical with the Patriots. Just the other day he had one in Denver. Soon, he will take one in Indianapolis, followed by another examination in San Diego.

Unlike Klecko, who is searching for yesterday, the Jets are trying to find tomorrow. They have had little luck for two decades. Because of their 6-9 record last season, they will be able to take the eighth player in the college draft next month. Whoever he is and wherever he plays, he should have little trouble making the team, unless, of course, the club plucks a player of questionable quality, as it has in the last two drafts.

Veterans, though, were hardly surprised by the recent events that saw four respected teammates cut after the 34-year-old Klecko was let go after failing his physical. Joe Fields (34), the offensive lineman and team captain; Dave Jennings (35), the punter; Barry Bennett (32), the defensive lineman, and Gordon King (32), an offensive lineman, expected the ax. Even their remaining teammates weren't shocked. 'The Age Factor'

''Obviously, it means management feels we've got some older guys on the team they didn't think could help us much longer,'' Pat Ryan, the backup quarterback for most of the time since 1978, said recently. ''It's obvious the age factor has something to do with it. I know that sometimes you think salary had something to do with it, but not in this case. You don't have any guys earning a million dollars a year.''

Further moves are likely in the coming weeks, although the club's president, Jim Kensil, said there would be no wholesale shifts as there were last week.

''That doesn't mean we may not make a trade or otherwise do something,'' said Kensil. ''It's always possible we will.''

Coach Joe Walton has not commented on the flurry of activity except through a written statement he would not amplify. He refused an interview request and a club spokesman said Walton would not be available for a few weeks.

Walton, though, has apparently spent part of the off season in fence-mending with unhappy players.

When the season ended, Kurt Sohn, the player representative, said he did not want to return unless conditions changed. And Bob Crable, another veteran, even suggested that the Jets bring in a football expert to assess the club and pinpoint its problems and why it continually stages late-season collapses. Walker Expects 'Rebuilding'

''I have no idea what's going to come,'' Wesley Walker, a star receiver since 1977, said last week. ''I'd like to get to a Super Bowl, but it looks like a rebuilding year.''

Ryan and Walker conceded that there was player unhappiness last season.

''I had the sense we had acquired some problems caused by a number of factors,'' explained Ryan. ''The strike hurt some people's attitudes and they let it bother them. We had some hostilities that offended players on the team. But after the season, a number of people I spoke to said they had reached a similar conclusion: that maybe what happened last year was exaggerated, and that maybe without the strike it wouldn't have been as bad. I don't think hard feelings around the league were rare last year.'' Counting on Young Players

No matter what the players think of Walton, he will be back and will face problems that weren't solved by last year's draft or any other personnel moves. For now, the club seems to be relying on unproven young players like Gerald Nichols and Scott Mersereau to shore up the defensive line.

But as Bennett pointed out: ''The best seasons Marty Lyons and I ever had in rushing the passers were the same seasons that Joe Klecko and Mark Gastineau had outstanding years. Marty and I could never do it on our own and when we had to, our failings showed.''

If that remains true, then the defensive line has only one proven pass-rusher now in Gastineau, who is once more restructuring his body after being either too big or too small the last two seasons.

With Fields's absence, Mike Haight will be given the left guard position. The No. 1 draft pick of 1986 finally made his first National Football League start in the final game of 1987. It is possible that Jim Sweeney, who used to be Dan Marino's center at Pitt, will go back to that position from left tackle, a spot where defensive linemen over ran over him last season.

But for now, the club appears to be no better off without those five aged players than it was with them.